With Cumberland high and staying high, I was wondering if anyone around Louisville knew of any place to catch trout during the winter? I was thinking about Brookville and didn't know if anyone had been fishing there lately or not. I thought that since it is a tail water it would stay warmer than most streams but I checked the gauge and it said the stream was only four degrees Celsius!

Heavynets

12-22-2010 09:22 PM

The link below is a good site to check if you are planning on fishing Brookville. Be sure to read the forum.

Brookville can be tough on a good day. I've fished there in teh winter a couple times and had mixed results (but I've fished in warmer weather and had mixed results too so take it with a grain of salt).

Normally, the stream has some decent hold over tourt, but I'm not sure how many are there now. Summer of 2009, they were doing some work on the dam and the stream got very low and very warm (close to 80 degrees) for about 2-3 weeks. It killed off a lot of the trout and there was some broohaha between some of the local residents and Central Indiana Trout Unlimited over some proposed stream regulation changes. Rumor is that what the warm water didn't kill, some of the fishermen from the town decided it was in their best interest to keep and eat every trout they caught.

I've heard the stream is rebounding and Indiana did a good job of stockig it this spring. This summer there were more normal flows and water temps so I would imagine there are still some trout in the stream.

I didn't get a chance to fish it this spring / summer but a couple guys I know siad they did pretty good there a few times over the year which is about normal.

If you go, midges (18-22 or smaller if you can see to tie them on), sow bugs, and BWO's have always worked well for me there.

Ceck the water gauge on the website you mentioned. If it's over about 3.8' the current is pretty swift. If it's over 4' it's really not safe to wade, especially in cold weather. There are some ledges and holes in the stream and if you can't see the bottom, don't go in that area. In the summer, not as big of a deal because even the deep holes aren't that deep and if you go in, it's easy enough to sit on the shore and dry off. In witner, it can be an entirely different matter getting back to your car wet and freezing.

If you get up there, I'd like to hear the report on how you did.

Jeff

3wt

12-24-2010 10:03 PM

jeffnles1-
Sorry if I was not clear in my post. I fish Brookville fairly often just had not in a month or so. Hopefully all the info you took the time to post is read by someone who hasn't fished there before. I did do very well a couple of days there this summer and even managed a couple browns over twenty inches there. Do you know when they stock Brookville?

jeffnles1

12-26-2010 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3wt
(Post 88543)

jeffnles1-
Sorry if I was not clear in my post. I fish Brookville fairly often just had not in a month or so. Hopefully all the info you took the time to post is read by someone who hasn't fished there before. I did do very well a couple of days there this summer and even managed a couple browns over twenty inches there. Do you know when they stock Brookville?

3wt,

Cool. Maybe next summer we'll meet on the stream.
Stocking times vary somewhat. I believe it was mid April this year. I think most years it's sometime in April or early May if my aging memory is serving me well this evening.

I fished quite a bit in Laughery Creek for bass, long ear sunfish and blueill this summer before things started getting too dry.

I hope to get to Brookville several times next year. There should be some decent hold overs there by then.

Guess that means I'll be tying some small stuff this winter.

Another fly that I've done pretty good with is something I think they call a Klinkhammer. The way I tie it is on a #20 or #18 scud hook. I like red thread for the body and grizzly hackle tied parachute style. I tied some with red thread as a tag and gray dubbing up to where the hackle was tied in. I couldn't tell the fish cared one way or the other and it's a lot easier to just use thread for the main body so that's what I do. The way the fly floats, the body is below the surface film and the hackle keeps it floating. I guess they think it's a midge of some sort hatching.

Also, in late summer (August / September) I've done pretty good with hoppers.

mattblick

10-17-2011 10:05 AM

Any more news/updates for Brookville?

I was thinking of checking it out this week, turns out I can get there in an hour from work and then an hour and a half home; that makes it a better "after work" opportunity than the Mad River.